News Corp staff blindsided by company’s use of AI producing articles for 'years'

News Ltd used to be synonymous with Fox, Foxtel, and Fox News and Sky. There has been a partial unwinding of the relationship but in Australia remains part of the Murdoch family media empire, with private capital.

News Ltd has two significant branches: the Australian, which they consider "the journal of record for Australia" (emphasis on they, because its disputable) -and all the other mastheads, which tend to be state based.

News Ltd has been in different editorial combines inside itself, and also has invested in JV with Fairfax and others to out source printing and sub-editing and proofing tasks.

News Ltd bought up regional (small country town) newspapers extensively, to the point that the ACCC got concerned. They then proceeded (if I recall this correctly) to shut them down, and centralise news production with a small amount of local news injection.

The Australian wages war on everyone. Its unashamedly one-eyed for the right, economically, politically and religiously (mostly catholic-right anti abortionist) and makes space available in its commentary and editorial pages for the IPA, a body not un-alike the Cato institute.

The Australian also wages war on the public broadcaster, accusing it of left wing bias, (it is notable that even when the ABC employs journalists from Sky and News Ltd this accusation continues)

The Australian wages war on Climate science (it is AGW denialist, and denies it) and is pro nuclear, and anti wind farm, and also very very anti China, and is opposed to the reconciliation movement with the aborigines and constitutional change.

Its a really complicated situation. They have good Journalists, and really regressive editorial company policy, and they wage war. Class war, mostly but in the end, any fight which is oppositional to the Labor side of politics is worth fighting.

Given that we have federal and state governments almost across the board Labor, this means that News Ltd is at war with every arm of government above the local mayorality sector, almost all the time, since the last round of elections.

During the peak 1950s and 1960s anti communist fervor the Australian was in the forefront of the fight on behalf of catholic right. This was continued into the modern era by philosopher B.A. Santamaria. The mantle was taken up by Gerard Henderson (since retired, to almost exclusively ABC bashing) -And several staunch supporters of the catholic aristocracy of Australia against allegations of child abuse, in support of anti abortion, against womens rights, land rights, unionisation of the workforce, state ownership of assets, Mining and petrol taxes, you name it.

News Ltd reported readership has been in decline for decades. Probably, they are ageing out. The declared masthead value has been retained solely by selling off profitable sub business such as real estate websites, and by sacking first photography, and successive waves of Journalists as they centralise production. Almost all content in News Ltd is now federated, with increasing use of the "Sun" and American sourced stories.

It wouldn't surprise me if when they centralised into the JV on sub editing they invested in "AI" to do basic content review, first stage proofing and moved up the food chain as the technology improved. I don't have to say that across this time the systematic bias I perceive has been constant, so in no sense is the technology not "doing what they want" in terms of how it casts the news.

(caveat: although I read the australian, I am very biased against its editorial policy. I would be interested in seeing substantive rebuttal of my bias above)